


It's Perfect Power

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Parenthood, Reunions, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: The light dissipates as quickly as it had come, and Tony gets to his feet as soon as it does. He's seeing stars and he can hear Bucky shouting from behind him, but he needs to get to Steve, needs to make sure that he's okay, that the damn artifact hasn't hurt him or worse. He makes his way halfway over to the couch, stumbling blindly with a vicious, vindictive sort of relief for his nights of drunken stupor that make it all too easy to find his way to the couch. He's almost to Steve's side when he gets a good look at the gaping expression on Steve's face and the hint of tears in his eyes."Mom?"When Sarah Rogers appears in Tony's lab, both of her boys need her more than they ever thought. And maybe, so does one other lost little boy that just needs a mother's love.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Sarah Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Sarah Rogers & Steve Rogers, Sarah Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 162
Collections: 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange





	It's Perfect Power

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cap Iron Man Community](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cap+Iron+Man+Community).



> Written for the Cap-IM Community gift pool for the following prompt:
> 
> _Sarah Rogers shows up in Tony's workshop while Steve's lying on the couch and Tony's working on Bucky and his arm_
> 
> Title from the following Maya Angelou quote: “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.”
> 
> Unbeta'ed because deadlines, so please excuse any mistakes!!

Tony isn't sure what he's expecting when the artifact that Steve's been toying with all afternoon starts glowing. The damn thing hadn't been responsive to any of his or Bruce's many, _many_ tests, so they'd deemed it harmless. Tony hand handed it over to Steve to fidget with while he worked on the upgrades for Bucky's arm. Steve always got a little jumpy when upgrades took longer than half an hour, and after the fight they'd had today, Tony knew he'd be at this for well over three hours. It hadn't seemed like a big deal to hand the puzzle box over to Steve.

He's seriously rethinking that assertion as a brilliant blue light emanates from the box to fill the room. Steve's at the center of it all, his eyes wide and his lips half-parted as he stares directly into the light. Before Tony or Bucky can get across the room to get him out of the potential blast radius, the light goes even brighter, blue turning to white, until Tony has to shield his eyes.

The light dissipates as quickly as it had come, and Tony gets to his feet as soon as it does. He's seeing stars and he can hear Bucky shouting from behind him, but he needs to get to Steve, needs to make sure that he's okay, that the damn artifact hasn't hurt him or worse. He makes his way halfway over to the couch, stumbling blindly with a vicious, vindictive sort of relief for his nights of drunken stupor that make it all too easy to find his way to the couch. He's almost to Steve's side when he gets a good look at the gaping expression on Steve's face and the hint of tears in his eyes.

"Mom?"

Tony turns to look in the same direction as Steve and his first reaction is to get FRIDAY to initiate lockdown protocols because there's a person in his lab that he's _never seen before_. Steve's words penetrate his mind before he can, though. Tony blinks again, twice, before turning to look at Steve, then back at the intruder.

Well. Shit.

* * *

"I'm not sure I understand, Stevie."

Steve forces himself to focus on what she's saying, not the way Tony's tapping away at the computer or the bubble of warmth in his chest at having his mom at his side again. It's been so long.

"Steve." Bucky's voice is sharp and pulls Steve out of his reverie. He looks over at his best friend, his arm still half-mangled from where Tony had interrupted the upgrade to figure out what's going on with the puzzle box.

Sarah follows Steve's gaze to look at Bucky, and then at his arm. Her face saddens. "Oh, James."

Bucky shakes his head. "It's been a long time, Mrs. Rogers. I'm used to it. Besides, Tony—" Bucky stops when Tony looks up at him sharply. "Tony makes sure I'm not in any pain."

Tony grimaces and Steve would be more worried about that if he had any space in his heart to worry. There's no room left for worry, though. Only joy and relief. His mother is here, whole and healthy and real in front of him. No matter what Tony might think , this isn't a trick or a lie or any sort of deceit. This is his mother, here and true and present, and it's more than he ever thought he would have again. He reaches out to her, taking her hand in his. God, she's so young.

"It's okay, Ma. I'm okay."

"I can see that." There's something sly in her tone, and Steve flushes. "Whatever happened to the little boy I spent years healing from scrapes and bruises and more sickness than I knew how to fight?"

"He's still here, Ma. I'm still your Steve. I'm just... a little stronger than I was before."

Tony snorts, and Steve tosses him a glare. Tony shrugs off the look, going back to his analysis of the puzzle box. Steve tries not to let that hurt.

"He's sure right about that, Mrs. Rogers, The kid can hold his own in a fight now, but he's still the same old Stevie. Never met a bully he wouldn't fight."

Steve grins wide enough that his face hurts. It's his three favorite people all in one place; his mother, his brother, and his—

Steve's heart stops in his chest. Sarah hasn't asked about Tony yet, probably because she doesn't know what to make of him or this place. But explaining everything means explaining Tony. Explaining Tony means explaining _Steve_ , and if that loses him his warm, bright memories of his mother, then he doesn't know if he can do it. He glances over at Tony, who's studiously ignoring him. If he's thought of the repercussions of telling his mother about them, though, Steve knows Tony's thought of it. It aches, to lie and hide who he is one more time, but he doesn't want to lose what he had with his mother.

"What year did you say you came from, Mrs. Rogers?"

Steve startles out of his reverie at the sound of Tony's voice. "Tony—"

"I need to know, Steve. We need to know exactly when she came from so that we can send her back."

"Send her— Tony, she just got here."

Tony's face hardens when he looks over at Steve. "I know she means the world to you, Steve, but we can't afford to not send her back."

Steve casts around for something, anything that he might be able to use to argue with, but he knows Tony's right. "That doesn't mean you need to go looking right now, does it?"

Tony's expression barely shifts. "The longer she's here, the more chance we have that she might learn something to disrupt the timeline. You know how important it is that she doesn't change anything, Steve."

"She's already figured out enough; what are you going to do about that?"

Tony meets Sarah's eyes directly. Steve turns to look at her too, suddenly afraid of what he might see in her eyes. She's looking right back at Tony with the shrewd sort of knowing that she's always had. "That's her call, Steve."

Without breaking Tony's gaze, Sarah reaches out to pat Steve on the knee. "Stevie, go make me some tea, hmm?"

Steve blinks. "Ma—"

"Now, young man."

It's the tone that has him hopping to his feet immediately. He looks over at Bucky briefly, meeting his eyes that are alight with amusement. Then he looks at Tony, offering him a silent plea not to say anything. Tony's face stays stony and impassive, and Steve knows that's the best he's going to get. He relents, and heads over to the elevator to go up to the communal floors; goodness knows Tony wouldn't keep anything even vaguely resembling tea in the lab. Steve casts one more pleading look at Tony as the doors close between them, but Tony's already turned to his mother, his eyes alight with the glow that the thrill of a scientific discovery leaves in them, and Steve knows he's already lost.

* * *

Sarah smiles at James and the man at his side. Tony. He really does look dashing.

"Well, now that the worrywart is out of the way, maybe you boys can tell me what exactly is going on."

James and Tony exchange a glance. "How much do you already know?" James asks.

"Clearly I've traveled to some version of the future. Further in the future than I would have thought possible given how old Stevie looks, but it's some sort of future. Goodness knows not even Howard Stark could have come up with all this so fast."

Tony stiffens, and Sarah files that away. She's not sure what it means, but it must mean something.

James looks over at Tony, taking his cues from him. Another thing to note; James certainly followed Steve's lead sometimes, but he was too fierce in his own right to follow orders for the rest of his life. "St— Tony, you know we have to tell her."

Something pinches around Tony's eyes. "Mrs. Rogers, what you need to understand is that your son is... he's very special. Important. Not just to— to you and Sergeant Barnes, but to the country. If there's even a chance that you coming here could change the path that he's on... it's unacceptable."

It's not what Sarah ever would have expected, but it isn't as surprising as it might have been had she not lain eyes on Steve herself. The man her son has become is nothing that should have been physically possible for the boy she knows back home. And she does need to get back home to him. Steve's reaction had told her enough about her future that she knows she doesn't have much time to care for him. Fourteen and skin and bones and there's so little she can do for him, but seeing his future makes it a little easier to accept what he is now; knowing how he will move through the world one day makes her hopeful that she raised him right.

"Well, you must know that you don't have to say much to convince a mother that her child is special. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want me to know. Just tell me this, Tony. Is he safe?"

Tony inhales sharply. She's not sure what he sees in her eyes, but it must be something he's used to seeing in Steve's eyes, because his response is immediate and fervent. "Yes," he says, and Sarah can hear the truth in his words, can hear the affirmation of what she'd feared and known from the moment she saw her Stevie looking at Tony. A mother always knows. "Yes, Mrs. Rogers. Even without his strength, he'd be safe."

She must be further in the future than she'd thought, if the world has moved so far. "And he's happy?"

Tony's lips quirk in a wry smile. "You'd have to ask him that, Mrs. Rogers. I can't speak for him."

"I can." Sarah turns to look at James, who glances from her to Tony and back again. "I can speak for him there, Mrs. Rogers. He is happy. Happier than I think I've ever seen him. He loves— He's in love, and he's loved in turn. It's all he ever wanted back then, next to being strong enough to kick every bully's ass, and he has it now."

Sarah relaxes. "Good. That's good." She smiles at Tony, reaching out to take his hands in hers. "Please, take good care of him, Tony."

"I will. As long as he lets me, Mrs. Rogers, I will look out for him."

Sarah leans forward to kiss his cheek. "That's all I ask."

* * *

Bucky hears the elevator making its way down just moments before the two normal humans in the room could even think to hear it. He doesn't try to break them apart, though, Tony taking down all the information that he could about Sarah before he worries about trying to send her back. When the elevator opens, Steve throws Bucky a horrified look at how close Tony and his mother are. Bucky just grins back at him.

Steve insinuates himself between Sarah and Tony, and Bucky holds back a remark at the crestfallen look on Tony's face.

But if there's one thing that Bucky never forgets about Steve, it's that the best parts of him are Sarah's. "Now, Steven, I know you didn't just interrupt the conversation your partner and I were having."

Steve rears back and throws a betrayed look at Tony.

"Don't give him that look, Steve, I know what my boy looks like when he's in love."

"Ma—"

Sarah pulls Steve in and kisses his cheek. "You picked a good one, Steve. Now, let him do what needs to be done to keep you safe.

"You don't have to leave so soon, do you?" He looks over at Tony, trying not to beg with his eyes. "You can send her back to the same moment no matter how long she's here, can't you?"

Tony purses his lips. "It's possible, but I don't know if risking it is safe. The last thing I want is for you to—" Tony looks away, and Bucky's chest tightens. The idea of Steve not being here at the end of the day, not being the man that Bucky's stood beside for years, hurts more than he wants to admit.

"Let him do his work, Steve." Steve looks down at Sarah, and Bucky can see the ache in his face. "I got to see how my baby boy grew up, and you got to see me one more time. Let's not steal time that isn't ours, honey."

Steve's eyes are wet, but Bucky knows the conviction behind them quite well. "We can keep you safe here. Give you the— the care you need."

Sarah blinks back tears of her own, understanding dawning on her face. "Maybe, my dear, but at what cost? I won't steal your destiny from you, and I won't let you rob yourself of that either. This is how it was supposed to be, alright? You did well, my boy, and knowing that is enough for me, okay?"

"Okay, Ma." Steve leans down to kiss Sarah's forehead. "And you— you're okay? With this?"

Sarah laughs at the way Steve gestures between himself and Tony. "Steve, all I've ever wanted is to know that you will be loved. I can see that, here and now, and I know you won't want for anything. Just love him, Steve. That's all I ask. Love him as fiercely as he loves you."

Steve blinks hard and turns to look at Tony. "I will, Ma. I promise."

Sarah cups his cheek and pulls him in close. "Then I have raised you well."

Bucky's chest tightens, the ache of missing his own family stronger than it's been in years. Sarah's always known his moods as well as Steve's, though; she pulls him in for a hug as well. "Your mother would be so proud of you."

"I didn't— I'm not— I wasn't—"

Sarah kisses his cheek. "You're alive and well and looking after my boy. That's all I wanted. You're still fighting the good fight, still doing what's right, and that's all your parents wanted for you too. They just want you to live your best life, James, and you are. Never forget that."

"I won't." Bucky blinks back tears, before leaning in and kissing Sarah's forehead. "I promise. And I'll keep an eye on your idiot son too."

"Hey!"

Sarah laughs, and, for the first time in years, Bucky remembers that there are good things in his past too. Steve, yes, but his sisters, his parents, the life they all lived before the war. This is who he is, where he comes from. He's more than what HYDRA did to him, and that's something they can never take away from him. 

"Now," Sarah says, stepping out of Bucky's embrace and into Tony's space. "Let's see what we need to do to get me back to my boy so that he can find his way to you."

Tony's face is radiant, and Bucky knows this is something that Tony never thought he'd get: the approval of a parent for his relationship. There's a reason that Sarah appeared to the three of them, and he's glad for Tony too, even amidst his own bittersweet joy at having seen Sarah one more time.

"Yes," Tony says. "Let's see what we can do."


End file.
